Library patrons can pay off fines with canned goods

Sara Higgins

Published 8:24 am, Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Overdue fee offenders will be offered a chance at redemption when the library hosts its first “food for fines” amnesty program starting Nov. 1.

Throughout the month of November, patrons can donate one canned good for each dollar they owe in overdue fees, library director John Trischitti III said at the Midland County Commissioners Court meeting Monday. The goods will be donated to the West Texas Food Bank and possibly other nonprofit food pantries in the area, Trischitti said.

The amnesty campaign, which library staff said is the first of its kind that they can remember, will not forgive owed materials and processing fees, Trischitti said. Staff members hope that many of the canned goods will be accompanied with items missing from the library shelves.

Nearly 10,500 library patrons owe $244,364.96 as of Monday. This total ranges from 5 cents all the way to one patron’s debt of more than $550, Trischitti said. The majority of that total is from the cost of missing materials, he said.

The penalty fees that are currently on file have been accrued since 2001, Trischitti said. Some of the individuals may no longer live in Midland. Though the library automatically removes individuals from the system who have not used their card for three years, those who have accrued $5 or more in late fees remain in the database, Trischitti said.

Library cardholders are allowed to check out 40 items at any given time. They can check out books for three weeks and movies for five days; both may be renewed for another checkout period. The overdue book fine is 10 cents a day and the fine on overdue movies is 25 cents a day, staff said.

Patrons can’t check out materials if they owe more than $5, so “a lot of people don’t use the library because they owe more than” that amount, Trischitti said.

“We want to get them in good standing so they can use the library again,” he said.

With the opening of the new library facility planned for next spring, library officials hope the food drive will give them a more accurate count of patrons -- which is currently an estimated 37,000 -- as well as help patrons become in good standing in order to use the new library when it opens.

“Let’s have those conversations now instead of waiting until the new library opens, so we don’t have to worry about it then,” he said. “This is going to be a creative way that people can take care of those things and start using the library again.”

Trischitti asked that participants bring their canned food items to the downtown branch if possible, though he said the library won’t turn down donations at the Centennial branch if that’s a library guest’s only option. Users of the library can also donate canned foods even if they don’t have outstanding fines.

Patrons can check if they owe money to the library by visiting their account page on www.co.midland.tx.us/lib or calling 688-4330.

In other business:

-- The court acknowledged and accepted a Justice Assistance Grant Program Award of $12,763 for the Midland County Sheriff’s Office.

The federal funding will be used for ammunition or bullet proof vests for the county’s 129 sworn peace officers, said Sheriff Gary Painter.

- - It was reported that the county has $295,659.26 left to collect in taxes for fiscal year 2011-2012, with more than $784,000 in delinquent taxes for the same time period, said Tax Assessor-Collector Kathy Reeves.

More than $25.8 million, or almost 99 percent of the $26.2 million tax roll in 2011, has been received. All taxes paid with penalty and interest, late fees and attorney fees equaled $26.7 million, or about 2 percent more than last year’s tax roll.